RateMyStudentRental Blog - Home

Is timing everything?

2008-07-30T22:32:00Z

I am trying to learn when students typically start looking for their next student rental. I created a 3 questions survey at Survey Monkey to help get started on this research. A minute of your time would be appreciated! Click Here to take survey.

Where is the Party?!

2008-07-29T17:04:00Z

When I was choosing a school, education was my top reason for picking Kettering University.. It was there I learned that the party/social scene was a big benefit too. Although very different from our neighbors at Michigan State University. and the University of Michigan, at Kettering University we made the best of what we were working with!

So whether you choose to go to school for the prestigious classes or the sunny-day-front-lawn-cold-beverage experience (if it’s before noon may I recommend a fruit smoothie?) you should check out the top 20 list thatThe Princeton Review published. They surveyed 120,000 students to help rank the below schools.

If none of these schools are on your list of potential universities at least keep them in mind, make some new friends, and visit one weekend for the experience! Talk about an ultimate road trip; stop by each of these 20 universities!

So, tell us some of your best party stories. And, why don’t we try to get a Michigan school on the list next year!

Creating the Ultimate Landlord Tool

2008-07-24T19:41:00Z

Tell us about Rental Management Software! Alfa Jango Software & Marketing is conducting a survey to learn more about rental management software. This survey is only 10 questions and if you are a current landlord registered on www.RateMyStudentRental.com you will receive credits to your account for completing the survey!

Thanks for your time and input! Keep posted for updates!

Tell me what you want.

2008-07-23T00:45:00Z

The following blog is from the National Multi Housing Council, NMHC . They did research on what students really want in off-campus housing.

NMHC Research Report Examines What Today’s Students Want In Their Off-Campus Rental Housing

Michael Tucker, 202/974-2360, mtucker@nmhc.org

September 27, 2007

WASHINGTON, DC – Off-campus student housing is one of the apartment industry’s most important niche markets as many of the nation’s 75 million “Echo Boomers” head to college and overwhelm on-campus housing inventories. To help firms better understand the needs of this market, the National Multi Housing Council has published a new research report titled What Do Students Want?. Based on focus groups with students at nine universities, the report explores what students look for when selecting an off-campus apartment.

“Today’s students prefer off-campus student housing to dorm life for a variety of reasons, such as cost, freedom and more space,” said NMHC Senior Vice President Jim Arbury, “but they appear to be most interested in the social opportunities these properties enable and encourage and the opportunity to be on their own for the first time.”

According to NMHC’s research, one of the key factors students use to rate a property is how lively it is. They are particularly drawn to properties where the layout includes a “central space” that combines the clubhouse and recreation amenities (pool, volleyball courts, and picnic areas) and promotes the social interaction they want. Not surprisingly, recreational amenities, such as fitness centers, pools and volleyball courts, rated as more valuable than academically oriented amenities, such as computer labs.

In general, however, students were more interested in the apartment layout than the property’s amenities. Contrary to the stereotype of students living on pizza, the number one request from the students was for larger kitchens with more counter and cabinet space. Second to the kitchen in importance was the bedroom. Overall the students said they would sacrifice space in the living room for larger bedrooms and abundant storage space.

Students were nearly unanimous in their preference to rent by the bed (as opposed to sharing a lease with their roommates). They also prefer all-inclusive rents with as few extra fees as possible to make life simpler, although they encourage properties that offer bundled rents to also publish a “base rent” to allow fair comparisons with competitors.

“While we went into this research project primarily looking to identify the ‘must-have’ amenities for off-campus student housing, we ended up hearing as much, if not more, about how student renters want to be treated,” said Arbury.

Ultimately, the priority that emerged in most of the focus groups was not the amenities they wanted at their properties or in their apartments, but how they want to be treated. Moving into an off-campus property is a rite of passage for most students. They approach it with trepidation and assume that they will not be treated with the same respect as older renters. They are quick to see failures in the leasing and management process as confirmation of their pre-conceived notions.

Apartment firms that understand that and can ease the transition by providing model questions to ask leasing agents, plain-English summaries of leases, and “how-to” guides on caring for an apartment will stand out in the market.

“If the industry hopes to create a positive impression of rental housing in the minds of these customers, who are by definition tomorrow’s renters, excellent customer service may be more important in this sector than in any other,” said Arbury. “The good news is that firms that get it right can win long-term customers. Students repeatedly said that if they could find a property with the right amenities, affordable rent, and a management staff that treats them honestly and with respect, they would stay for two or three years.”

Is Flint Turning Into a College Town?

2008-07-18T19:58:00Z

Turning Flint into a college town takes each and every student

At Kettering University’s June 2008 Commencement ceremony (yes, all of the RateMyStudentRental team was there!) the students, proud parents, and faculty heard the announcement that Third Avenue was going to now be known as University Avenue! That is definitely a step in the right direction for the depressed town we know as Flint, MI.

Flint, MI is home to several Universities and Colleges including: Kettering University (formerly General Motors Instiutue) , University of Michigan – Flint , Mott Community College ,and Baker College . But, at the same time, while thousands of students support the local economy, Flint’s educational institutions are forgotten and a negative reputation is still being supported by the unemployment, boarded up buildings, and bizarre crimes.

Many are sick of the bad news and have finally stepped up to do something positive. A group of inspired students and professionals have joined efforts and have put together a proactive group called the Flint College Town Initiative. From the Kettering Chapter’s Facebook group , the group states that :

“The Flint College Town Initiative is a joint effort between Kettering University, University of Michigan- Flint, Mott Community College, Baker College, and the Flint Institute of Arts to change Flint's face from an old industrial town to a newer and younger College Town. There are currently over 30,000 students who attend higher level education institutions within the City of Flint, yet we (as students) are the most under served population. It is our goal to change that! The College Town Student Advisory Committee meets on a monthly basis to focus our efforts to create a sense of community among all college students in Flint. This group is intended to be Kettering University's official student voice for those meetings.”

But, why should we care if Flint turns into a college town? Most of us, as students, will probably be out of the city before anything gets done! Below are just a few reasons why we should all contribute the the movement of giving Flint a college town mentality:

Your College’s reputation is on the line! If you college or university drops in enrollment and programs have to get cut for the institution to survive then the reputation of the university may decline and the name on your degree might loose it’s power.
Future students will appreciate the change! Your little sister could be coming to one of Flint’s colleges and something might be changed by the time she gets here. You want her to be safe and have a great experience, don’t you?
Improved local economy. Businesses in Flint are already starting to give their store’s make-overs and new businesses are slowly coming in. This will only happen faster. Students will be provided better service and offered better products as a result.
Campus and community beautification. If we all get in the college town mood and start expecting to live like we were in a college town we would see cleaner grounds, improved buildings and better student housing.

You can start to join these other students and join their Facebook group or ask around campus of how you can get involved. Sounds like the Flint College Town Initiative group is coming up with some big events and we’ll do our best to keep you posted on them.

When we have reached the point that Flint is a college town, students will have things to do, places to go and reasons to come to Flint in the first place! Do your part, serve the community, and watch it give back!

Budgeting for Student Housing

2008-06-27T14:17:00Z

In my earlier blog Out of the Dorms and Into Life (A Guide to Finding the Best Place to Live in College) I identified six steps to finding college housing that works for you and your lifestyle.

Start Counting Your Benjamins!
What Are Your Gotta-Have-Its?
Can’t Live With Them, Can’t Live With-Out Them! (Roommates)
So, Which Place Should I Choose?
Commit Already!
Live It Up!

Over the next few months I will be adding a new blog that talks a little more about each step so you can get a better understanding of the step.

Start Counting Your Benjamins!

Originally I wrote:

First, and most important to most students, is the cost of the rent. Hopefully as a student you have some sort of budget in mind for the next 4-5 years of your college career. Finding a place that is within your budget should not be too hard. Also, keep in mind that the theory that “you get what you pay for” isn't always true with student housing; we’ll get into that a little later.

Creating Your Budget & Managing Your Money

Now that you are a college student chances are you are fully enjoying the college experience which consists of more play and less work (after all your homework is done of course)! So, how do we have fun playing with out worry And, if you are working, super – this gives you more reason to manage your money, because you have more to manage.

Establishing a budget is pretty easy, it’s the part where you have to follow your budget that requires a little more self-discipline. Start off by determining your income and expenses.

It is easiest to break down your income and expenses on a month to month basis. Income is fairly easy to identify, since the main source is usually from a job, either full or part time.

Predicting your expenses should take a little thought and effort. For most accurate budgets, look at the last few months of your expenses, how much did you spend on the following activities/items (just to name a few):

Tuition
Rent
Utilities – phone, internet
Auto – gas, insurance, service
Groceries
Dining
“going out”
Entertainment – movies, sports
Shopping – clothing, gadgets
Emergency money!

Once you have identified and categorized some of your expenses you should prioritize them. What expenses can and should you try to trim? Which expenses are critical to your survival; like entertainment, no one likes to be bored! Just kidding – more like the food and shelter, those play a huge factor in your success in the classroom.

After you are comfortable with your priority and estimates for income and expenses you can compare the two.

Income – Expenses = +/-

If you are in the negative, maybe you should play with your numbers a bit until they look reasonable and calculate to be closer to a positive number, or at least zero!

When your budget looks like it works for you, pay attention to what you allocated for your housing or rent. Rental prices range across the country, ask around and do a little research on campus to find the averages of student housing, you can also use RateMyStudentRental (yeah, another plus, can you blame me, it’s a sweet site!) to filter rental results on your campus by price and check out the ratings and review from other students, is there any correlation between price and quality on your campus? Watch out for the great deals and landlords who have great reviews, a great rental, and an affordable monthly rent.

Using tools like Wasabe (who have a reputation for holding true to their Privacy Policy can help manage your budget and personal finances.

Being smart with your money is important. Keep the following tips in mind about how to spend your money:

Try to avoid using credit cards.
If you must use a credit card, pay it off each bill cylce.
Have your weekly spending allowance in cash and only spend that...when it's gone, even it is Wednesday...wait until Monday to get more cash.
Pay bills (cell phone, rent, credit card) as soon as the statement comes out so that you are not tempted to spend the money else where.

Reviewing your budget:

If you took the time to put a budget together than you are one step ahead of most. You budget will be most effective if you can stick to it and review how well you are doing. I use Quicken software and each month I input all of my expenses and categorize them (food, auto, clothing, entertainment....etc). Quicken lets you run reports and see how much you have in each category and it also reports income. You can see many different reports and graphs of your financials. This is a good monthly review, compare it to your budget and see where you need to or can reduce or increase spending.

And, I would be doing my Financial Markets Professor wrong if I didn't encourage you to put a little bit of money away into investments now. Whether stock markets (short term and risky) or mutual funds (long term and less risky), we are young as students and can benefit greatly by getting in the habit of investing now.

Happy Budgeting!

Upperclass for Upperclassmen

2008-05-27T17:25:00Z

Upperclassman Grudge

You walk into your buddy’s apartment and you instantly know you’re standing in a good-enough-for-college-kids apartment. The makeshift bedroom walls are made out of leftover pieces of drywall with exposed seams. And the kitchen is made up of randomly assembled leftover cabinets, located with absolutely no rhyme or reason. The patchwork carpet remnants have seen better days, but do match the threadbare couches. Well matching at least in the sense that they’re all pretty crappy.

This mentality is dated. Of course some students will settle. You know, the Animal House types that just don’t care, but most students desire and have come to expect a little more. Living in good-enough-for-college-kids apartments is fun for a year, maybe two, but the fact is that students are spending more and more time in college. As the years pass, maturity increases and students are willing to pay you a little more for a quality place to call home for a while.

So what do students want?

Think home, minus the parents. Students today want you to give them fresh paint on the walls, crisp clean carpet, and a kitchen that has decent appliances. Students want a nice bathroom, and larger bedrooms. Often with upperclassmen you’ll find that five people in a house is too many. Finding two or three friends that you can live with is better than packing in five or six. That charm of the early college days wears thin after awhile and everyone is happier with more privacy.

So why should a landlord care?

You will reap the benefits of supplying premium housing to these students because these students are willing to pay more. A quality place to live is desirable to students, with fewer headaches for you and it will ultimately result in more cash flow. You will find that students are much more likely to respect a nice, well finished apartment than they do the good enough ones so you will be less likely to have to make expensive repairs.

Of course, there will always be a need for good enough, and the rentals will always be available, but the fact is there’s a growing and expanding market for higher quality, higher priced rentals. Those of you who make the leap, leaving good-enough-for-college-kids apartments behind will find yourselves in new territory. But that territory will have you feeling the benefits and tucking more cash in your billfold.

Landlords: Welcome to RateMyStudentRental!

2008-03-27T13:33:00Z

We want to announce that our landlord side of the website has just recently launched! March 21, 2008 our first landlord registered to the site. Since our launch to students we have been receiving many requests from landlords who were anxiously waiting to start utilizing our Free and Premium Services to grow their student rental business. We worked hard to get the landlord functions working so we could open our service up as soon as possible. We are still working in beta and we are continuously developing new services to offer to landlords to help them grow their business. Keep your eyes open for new features and changes to the site over time.

Registered landlords can utilize the following features:

Free

Verify rental details
Receive a HTML badge
Upload 2 photos
Flag for availability (immediately - 2 weeks, or this term - 2 months)
Write a Profile Description
Respond to student comments on your rentals profile

Premium Services

Upload 15 photos
Flag for availability

Coming Soon

E-Lease
E-Rent
Customized branding
Uplaod 3 videos

Check your landlord profile for pricing details. You can review our Refund Policy for more information.

We value each and every landlord returning to RateMyStudentRental with your confirmation code. Please note, that each rental has a confirmation code, for example, if you own three properties you will recieve three different confirmation codes. Each confirmation code is unique to each rental.

No Confirmation Code??

If you have not received a confirmation code and your rental is on our site, you should be receiving a code shortly. The confirmation code is sent via USPS to the address which is listed in public records at Home Info Max. By retrieving the owners address from Home Info Max we can assure that the confirmation code gets in the right person!

Rental Not Rated??

If your rental is not on the site and you want it to be, encourage your current or past student tenants to register at our site and rate their rentals. This will trigger a confirmation code to be sent to you. We are working on additional solutions to get you jump started with RateMyStudentRental

Your Business

We are looking forward to your participation and awareness of the student’s reviews and ratings, which will help you grow your business on campus. Together the RateMyStudentRental Team, students, and landlords will create safe, clean, premium housing on campus.

Please feel free to contact us anytime. We welcome feedback and comments and we arededicated to our customers.

The Crux of Flint

2008-03-06T20:27:00Z

Blake just wrote an excellent article called "A Safe Home is a Happy Home (well, it helps anyway)" with some very insightful tips on not getting your stuff stolen. His post mentions that Flint is consistently in the top 5 most dangerous cities in the US. Now, to be fair, there are some that say you should take these rankings with a grain of salt. But, as Blake's article mentions, we have seen many of our friends get their stuff stolen, so I thought I'd tell a couple funny (in a tragic sense) stories of our friends who found themselves no longer in possession of their possessions.

The Opposite of a Parting Gift: the Parting Take-Away

I have this one buddy, whose name escapes me at the moment, who decided after a year of going to school in Flint, that it wasn't for him anymore. He had just been accepted into another school elsewhere that started a few weeks after Kettering's semester. So a few weeks in, he packed up his stuff, ready to move out Sunday, but decided to first have one last hurrah Friday and Saturday night. It was like his last week of break all over again. But this was something more. It was like "no worries" partying coupled with a "screw you, Flint" attitude.

Unfortunately, he didn't plan on Flint answering right back to the screw you part. When he got back from partying Friday night, he found that his house had been broken into. His desktop computer, which he had all nicely packed and stacked, was gone, along with his guitar. He had unwittingly done half the burglar's job and made everything he owned easy to haul out of the window and back to the thief's evil lair (that's how I imagine thieves to be, don't you?).

Needless to say, his attitude for Saturday's night of debauchery had changed from "screw you, Flint" to "drown my sorrows in alcohol." Tough break, but such is the stigma of Flint.

At least the Thief Smells Good

Sometimes, you just have to wonder what was going through someone's head... I have another really good friend, Jim, who had an interesting experience getting his house broken into one night.

It's not hard to imagine the panic that goes through one's mind and takes control of your senses when you come home to realize that your sanctuary has been broken into. But try to imagine the confusion when you are filing the police report, and giving answers like this:

Police: Sir, what is the most valuable item missing from the house?
Jim: Um, that would be the Xbox (aside: this is pre-Xbox 360 era)
Police: No laptops, computers, or jewelry were stolen?
Jim: No sir, all of that is still there.
Police: Was anything else stolen?
Jim: Yes... my deodorant.
Police: I'm sorry?
Jim: My Old Spice deodorant was stolen.
Police: Um, are you sure you didn't just misplace it?
Jim: Yes, and you can definitely tell the burglar was in the bathroom. He stole my deodorant.
Police: And what was the value of this deodorant?
Jim: Well, it was less than half used. Probably $2 I guess...

Looking at the bright side though, at least the burglar would smell good for when he invited his hot date over to his evil lair to play his new Xbox. Only in Flint.

A Safe Home is a Happy Home (well, it helps anyway)

2008-03-05T03:47:00Z

When selecting a rental, many students often ignore the safety factor. Sure the front door has a lock, and maybe even a deadbolt, but how safe are you really? Some of you have the benefit of being in a safe environment while attending school, but all of us at RateMyStudentRental chose Flint, MI to attend college. Maybe you don’t know, but Flint is consistently in the top five most dangerous cities by population. Think of it like this, we have one of the highest chances of being victim of a violent crime in the country. I guess some might consider us authorities on security.

So, after witnessing MANY of our friends having their houses and cars broken into, here are a few tips we've come up with to keep in mind when scoping out your place.

The Weak Points: Doors and Windows

Of course your property has locks on the doors and windows, but what condition are they in? A wooden door in a wooden frame simply won’t cut it. First off, chances are it won’t be thermally acceptable. Security-wise a swift kick or strong shoulder and an intruder is standing in your living room ogling your Playstation and plasma trying to figure how it’s going to fit through the door he just busted down. Wooden door frames splinter, and wooden doors break. It’s a fact, steel is stronger than wood, so why wouldn’t you want your deadlock secured in a steel casing in order to hold your steel door shut?

Windows unfortunately are windows. Unless you have unsightly bars, which incidentally scream “BAD NEIGHBORHOOD,” windows are a weak point. Still each should have a working locking mechanism.

The Alarm System

Alarms are important, but what kind does your prospective rental have (or does it even have one at all)? Some alarms are self contained noise makers, and obviously only minimally effective. There are perimeter alarms which have sensors on each door and window and often have motion sensors as well. Additionally, utilizing a service such as ADT to monitor your alarm and notifying police when the alarm is activated greatly increases your safety and reduces your risk of a break in.

If you live in a bad part of town like we do, finding a rental with a security system can be well worth the effort and money. The first time a thief breaks in and steals your computer, you'll wish you had shelled out the extra $50/month for that place down the street that had ADT. Trust us.

"Security" Lighting

Here’s one that is quite counterintuitive. Most students and landlords believe that a “security light,” one that lights up the dark areas around a house when motion is detected, deters would be burglars. Actually, the exact opposite is true! It seems these things light up so often, that no one pays attention to them anymore. Burglars realize this, and actually use the lights to their advantage; you're actually illuminating one of the weakest points of your house and making it easy for the thief to see what they're doing.

Safe Parking

This one can be difficult to secure because many times you’re stuck with what is available. Property enhancements often don’t extend to the yard and driveway for student rentals and you may even have to park in the street. Good lighting is a common desire, but I urge you to remember what was said previously. More importantly for safe parking is an open area. If there are no places for an assailant to hide, then a surprise attack will likely be avoided.

Wherever you park, one good tip is to keep all valuables out of sight. Even not-so-valuables should be hidden. We've had friends whose cars were broken into, the CD's were left (after all, who listens to CD's anymore?), and all the change from their cup holder was taken!

Bonus Tip: The "Student Rental" Sign

This is one that a lot of people may not think about, but we've seen what a difference this makes here in Flint. The "Student Rental" sign in the window or out in the front yard is like an X on a treasure map to burglars. If "Student Rental Sign" were in the Burglar Dictionary (assuming there was such thing as a Burglar Dictionary), here is what it'd say:

<dl>

Student Rental Sign (noun):

A sign posted on an otherwise unassuming rental property indicating the presence of many valuables, and often cutting edge electronic equipment, inside that rental.

</dl>

Be weary of rentals that are known for having this sign (even if the landlord takes it down now, chances are the burglars already know). And if your rental already has this sign, demand that it be taken down now (it can't hurt).

Do you have anymore suggestions or tips? We'd love to hear them in the comments.

Out of the Dorms, and Into Life (A Guide to Finding the Best Place to Live in College)

2008-02-23T22:10:00Z

Your Freshman year is almost over, and you can't wait to get out of your dorm hall where you have to share anything and everything personal - right down to your sleeping habits and that bar-sized refrigerator. Chances are you're at a big campus, so it's time to get out there and spread your wings. If you're like us, then one year of dorm life was enough, and you might need some tips on where to go from here.

Life in off-campus housing is great - you have some freedom! You can live by your own rules and on your own schedule (well, by “your own,” I mean your's and your roommates', whom you can now be much more selective over). There are usually a lot of rental houses and apartments to pick from around campus that all cater to students. Before you go out and sign a lease, though, there are a few things you should consider. We’ll walk through some issues to think about based on our past experiences, reviews we've seen through our site, and a bit of research.

Start Counting Your Benjamins!

First, and most important to most students, is the cost of the rent. Hopefully as a student you have some sort of budget in mind for the next 4-5 years of your college career. Finding a place that is within your budget should not be too hard. Also, keep in mind that the theory that “you get what you pay for” isn't always true with student housing; we’ll get into that a little later.
What Are Your Gotta-Have-Its?

When you find yourself getting creative with ramen noodle meals, you know you've accepted that you have to give up some luxuries in life at college. But there are so many things we definitely can't live without. For most students these things include:
- cable and high-speed internet
- washer and dryer (laundromats suck)
- less than 5-10 minutes from campus
Take your gotta-have-it list and keep that in mind when looking around for housing.

Remember, some landlords might be charging extra for some of your gotta-have-its depending on your usage (for example, water, electricity), but often it is included in your monthly rent.

By now, since you've determined your price range and gotta-have-its, you should be able to narrow down the type of rental you need: apartment, house, town-house, etc.
Can’t Live With Them, Can’t Live Without Them (Roommates)

Choosing roommates really doesn’t seem that hard. And it’s not if you have a few close friends who are also looking for a place to live. Roommates are great for several reasons; they help cover the rent and help create some of the best memories of your college career (if you choose wisely).

Most landlords charge students for all the rooms/occupancies in the rental. This means if you can’t fill one of the rooms, usually that cost of that room is added to everyone’s overall rent. If you find a good landlord they will work with you when special cases arise, like when a roommate leaves before the year is up.

When possible pick roommates that you know ahead of time, this way you know you will get along with them a majority of the time (honestly, there are days you really don’t want to deal with roommates at all). If you are adventurous there is nothing wrong with random selection when looking for some new 'roomies'. Living in a house takes a lot of cooperation between everyone to make things easy and comfortable. Look for a future blog post from us on “Guide To Living With College Roommates”.
So, Which Place Should I Choose?

Hopefully by now you’ve recruited some roommates, narrowed down your price range, and have a list of your gotta-have-its. Now it's time to find a place. So, where do you start looking?

Most students hear about available housing through their peers. Even the biggest social butterfly just doesn’t have time to ask each friend about housing based all of their own criteria; however if you could search a database of your peers' feedback on student housing, now that would be awesome... [shameless plug alert!]

And that's where RateMyStudentRental.com comes in. We've done our best to make your search as easy as possible. Check out our intro video tutorial (~2 min) to see how easy it is to find the place that fits you.
Commit Already

Now that you’ve found the housing that meets your financial needs and gotta-have-its you can sign the lease with the landlord. Here are a list of things to be cautious of when signing the lease:
- Read the entire document, every term counts. Each lease different. Some don't make sense (i.e. not reviewed by a lawyer). Some are fair. Some try to screw students. And some (believe it or not) unwittingly screw the landlord!
- If something doesn’t seem right to you, question the landlord and if needed check your State’s laws on rental properties and tenant rights.
Live It Up

You’ve got your own place now to call home when you’re at school. Let the good times roll & make the best of these years, however you see fit!

Everyone Line Up, It's Tour Time!

2008-02-21T04:48:00Z

Hi, I'm Steve, the developer guy for RateMyStudentRental.com. Most of the articles you'll see coming from me on this blog will be talking about cool new features and ways to use the site. Now despite the fact that this site is pretty much the coolest thing to happen to student rentals since the invention of the beer-pong table, some people still need a little nudge in the right direction to try it out. So, I've put together this handy video to show you what we're all about.

Now, if that doesn't get you excited and wanting to tell your current landlord where to go, just so you can use our site to find your next place, then maybe this video, put together by an enthusiastic student user, will.

Kick-Ass Blog on the Air!

2008-01-19T08:04:00Z

Well, it's official, the new RateMyStudentRental blog has been launched into orbit around the blogosphere. Three months after launching our site and providing students with an outlet to rant about their rentals, we've finally launched our platform with which to rant (well, sort of). Stay tuned for our thoughts on the latest trends in student living and funny stories from the college underground, and watch as we make that oh-so awkward transition from fun-loving college students to fun-starved business peeps (NEVER!).

Until then, don't get screwed! (unless it's on your terms)

RateMyStudentRental Blog - Home

Is timing everything?

Where is the Party?!

Creating the Ultimate Landlord Tool

Tell me what you want.

NMHC Research Report Examines What Today’s Students Want In Their Off-Campus Rental Housing

Is Flint Turning Into a College Town?

Budgeting for Student Housing

Start Counting Your Benjamins!

Creating Your Budget & Managing Your Money

Reviewing your budget:

Upperclass for Upperclassmen

Upperclassman Grudge

So what do students want?

So why should a landlord care?

Landlords: Welcome to RateMyStudentRental!

Free

Premium Services

Coming Soon

No Confirmation Code??

Rental Not Rated??

Your Business

The Crux of Flint

The Opposite of a Parting Gift: the Parting Take-Away

At least the Thief Smells Good

A Safe Home is a Happy Home (well, it helps anyway)

The Weak Points: Doors and Windows

The Alarm System

"Security" Lighting

Safe Parking

Bonus Tip: The "Student Rental" Sign

Out of the Dorms, and Into Life (A Guide to Finding the Best Place to Live in College)

Start Counting Your Benjamins!

What Are Your Gotta-Have-Its?

Can’t Live With Them, Can’t Live Without Them (Roommates)

So, Which Place Should I Choose?

Commit Already

Live It Up

Everyone Line Up, It's Tour Time!

Kick-Ass Blog on the Air!